


Haven Ficlets & Episode Tags

by queenbookwench



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Altered Mental States, Angst, Episode Related, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kid Fic, Mind Control, Recovery, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-01 06:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6503791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbookwench/pseuds/queenbookwench
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I just started watching Haven, and I'm in the throes of full-on fandom obsession.  This is a place to store drabbles, ficlets, and episode reactions.  Expect minor character love, genfic, OT3 and more! If needed, I'll warn in the chapter headnotes</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dissolve (Nathan, gen, takes place during 1.13 "Spiral")

Nathan huddled into himself, staring out at the ocean as Vince and Dave picked up his father's...his father's _pieces_.

 When Parker came over and rested a hand on his shoulder, Nathan struggled to hold onto fury and incomprehension long enough to push her away, to bark out his mistrust and anger.

If he let up for even a moment, he feared he would give in, would do what he really wanted, would curl himself into her and the comfort she offered, would bury his face in her lap and _howl._


	2. Unhinged (Duke & Nathan, Duke POV, set during 1.03 "Harmony")

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content note: Canon, Trouble-induced mental illness and self-harm.

Okay then, so Crazy Nathan wanted to punch Duke’s lights out and destroy his stuff.

_Pretty much a more extreme version of Regular Nathan_ , Duke thought. _Why am I not surprised?_

And yet, now that Nathan was forcibly still, bound to the deck by Duke’s anchor chain, Duke could see clearly how feverish he looked--pale and sweaty, with hectic spots of color on his cheeks. As he came closer, dodging spittle, Duke noticed the burn marks on Nathan’s arms and felt a little sick.

During the (many) incidents where Duke had been handcuffed by this particular member of Haven’s finest, he’d always fantasized about what would happen if he ever got to turn the tables. This, though, this was somehow a _lot_ less fun than he’d imagined.

And he knew that Nathan--uber-responsible, nightstick-up-his-ass Nathan--would be absolutely mortified that _anyone_ had seen him in this state, much less Duke. _Oh, well,_ he thought, _another item on the list of things Nathan Wuornos is never going to forgive me for_.

Not that he kept an actual mental list, because that would be kind of pathetic, right?

_Dammit Audrey_ , he thought. _The things I do for you_.


	3. Message in a Bottle (speculative post-ep to 3.10 "Burn," Duke Crocker, Morton Danvers, Ginger Danvers, gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content note: References to after-effects of canon mind control.

Duke opened up his email; not his public address, but the other one, the one on an encrypted server.

He didn’t check it as often as he used to; he’d been a little too busy lately for delivery runs. The top message, though, was from an address he didn’t recognize and the subject line simply said, “Thank you.”

He was surprised and pleased to find a note from Morton Danvers:

Duke,

Just wanted to say once more how very grateful I am for everything you’ve done for us. That documents guy you referred me to does excellent work.

For now, I’m doing IT support from home and homeschooling Ginger for the rest of the year while we try to figure out our next steps. We’re still getting settled in, but I think the change will ultimately be good for both of us, give us time to heal.

The young lady herself just came in from outside and was _very_ excited to learn that I was writing you. She has things she wants to to say too, so I’m turning over the computer. And if you ever need a hand someday, just let me know.

Sincerely, 

Morton

Dear Duke aka Mr. Pirate,

Thank you thank you thank you for the books! The trip was really long and I would have been so bored and worried all the time without them. I finished _Ella Enchanted_ and _The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates_ , and I’m holding onto _The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle_  so I’ll still have one left. And I just saw in the back of _Ella Enchanted_ that Gail Carson Levine has written other books, and as soon as we can get cards, I’m going to go to the library and read them _all_!

I hope your head is feeling much better and I’m sorry for being like stupid Lucinda the fairy. I didn’t mean to be, but I guess she didn’t mean to hurt Ella either. One good thing though--Dad and I figured out that I have to say the words out loud to make things happen. So I’ve started keeping a notepad with me and watching lots of sign language videos on Youtube. Did you know there is sign language poetry?

When I start school again in the fall, Dad told me he’s going to tell the teachers I have something called _elective mutism_ because of being so sad about Mom, and hopefully maybe they won’t try to make me talk.

Your friend,

Ginger

P.S. Do pirates have nightmares? What do they do to make them go away?

Duke replied:

Morton, I was happy to help; glad to hear you’ve settled in OK. Don't worry, you don't owe me anything. 

Ginger, I’m back to sailing the high seas of Haven as usual, and my head’s fine now. I’m glad you liked the books--and don’t worry, you’re way smarter than Lucinda. Nicer, too. The sign language poetry sounds pretty cool--I always liked learning new languages too.  

I hate to tell you. but pirates have nightmares just like everybody else, or at least this one does. I suggest a nightlight. If you really can’t sleep, make yourself a warm drink and read something that makes you happy. Try taking some deep breaths and stretching. Those are the things I do, anyway; they might not fix the nightmares completely, but they’ll help. I promise.

Your friend, Duke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're not an children's literature nerd, _Ella Enchanted_ is a re-telling of the Cinderella story where a thoughtless fairy named Lucinda gives Ella the curse that she has to obey any direct command that anyone gives her; the story is her quest to lift the curse. It won the Newbery Medal in 1997; the movie with Anne Hathaway is quite different from the book. _The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates_ and _The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle_ are both about girls having adventures on the high seas.   
>     
> Duke's the kind of person who knows a little bit about about a lot of things; given all the books on the _Cape Rouge_ , I don't see why children's lit couldn't be one of them.  
> 


	4. Promises (Missing Scene from 1.04 "Consumed", Duke Crocker & Geoff McShaw)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content note: Lots of swearing and Geoff is kind of a douche. Contains references to drug use and my implied headcanons about what Geoff & Duke got up to in their years away from Haven.

Duke was standing in the  _Rouge_ 's galley, pouring fresh pesto out of his food processor, when someone banged on the hold doors. 

 _Now what?_ He thought. He just wanted to be left alone for a minute to eat something.  Something he had prepared himself, incidentally, and could be certain wasn't going to  _rot_ , thank you very much.  Was that so much to ask?

"Hey, Duuuke! Open the fuck up, man! I know you're in there."  It was Geoff McShaw, and he sounded pretty damn sauced. 

"I'm coming, keep your fucking shirt on," he hollered back, then headed out to let him in. 

Geoff flopped down onto Duke's couch, head in his hands, while Duke headed back to the galley, returning with two plates of pasta and a bottle of wine. He thrust a plate at Geoff, then poured them both generous glasses of wine. "Eat something, man," he said.  "I know you, you probably haven't stopped moving since the middle of the afternoon."

"You know what, Duke," Geoff said, voice rising. "You know what? I'm fucking done here. I'm done with this stupid, provincial fucking town. I'm done working with people who don't have the barest minimum of fucking appreciation for what I'm trying to  _do_ here, what I'm trying to  _build_ here. I'm done with motherfucking  _saboteurs_. I mean, what the hell, this isn't New York, it's East Bumfuck, Maine.  Who'd even  _care_? And none of our suppliers have seen a damn thing--is everybody just fucking blind around here?"

Duke sucked in a breath.  "Geoff, I...pretty sure you're not gonna like what I have to say here, but...you remember all that weird shit that went down when we were kids?  I have a feeling this is that special flavor of Haven strange all over again."

"Aw, c'mon, Duke. We were  _kids_. Don't they say kids can't tell fantasy from reality until they're like, twelve or some shit like that? We probably just heard some of those old stories around town and thought we saw things we didn't, because there's no way some of that stuff actually happened."

"If you'd seen Nathan ranting and raving and trying to choke me to death last week, you might be a little less skeptical." 

"Sounds like par for the course with you and De-tec-tive Wuornos these days," Geoff drawled. 

"Shut up, Geoff, Officer Parker actually had to tase him to make him stop, that sound typical to you?  And later on he didn't remember a damn thing about it. You're telling me that's normal? And what about that iron ball that bashed into the side of the _Rust Bucket_ , huh?" 

"Eh, sounds like the high school kids now are smarter that we were, they must've figured out how to pry it out.  And maybe Wuornos had a seizure, or I dunno, some kind of psychotic break or something.  But what the hell, say I agree that we live in a, some kind of magnet for the fucking unexplained. How is that helpful?" 

"Look, it gives me actual physical pain to say this, but when he's not out of his mind, Nate's pretty good at figuring shit out. And Officer Parker's something else.  Give them a chance to do their jobs before you call it quits." 

Geoff looked about to continue, but paused to dig into his plate of pasta.  "Hey, this doesn't suck."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Duke replied.

"You should, ya bastard. You ever wanted to give up the roving life, you could be a decent chef.  Speaking of the roving life, haven't exactly seen you doing a lot of that lately.  I know why I'm washed up in this damn town--why're  _you?_ "

"Made a promise, same as you did."

"A promise to who?"

"Yeah, nope, not going there. We have not had  _nearly_ enough to drink for that, my friend. I'm not sure there  _is_ enough to drink for that." 

"Fine, fine. But I am about  _thisclose_ to saying the fuck with all this and taking that job that Justine's been dangling in front of my face for the last three months. Let Bill and Meg try to figure out how to make a go of this place on their own, if they don't like how I'm doing it." 

"You sure you want to subject yourself to that again? 'Cause I seem to remember some words to the effect of how you'd never darken the door of a kitchen that woman ran again, or some shit like that. Then again, you were pretty coked up at the time."

"Thinking about working for her, Duke, not talking about fucking her, definitely not talking about doing lines with her."  

Duke just looked at him and said nothing.

"Dammit, Crocker, you're no fun!  When did you turn into the no-fun guy?"

"Hey now, I'll have you know that I can still be a lot of fun.  I am the fucking  _definition_ of fun, and don't you forget it."

"Heh. Speaking of, remember when I was cooking at that resort in Antigua and you and Evi came down? Now  _that_ was fun."

Duke smiled reminiscently. "Yeah it was. Still a little amazed we pulled off that job as clean as we did.  Evi on a grift, man, still one of the sexiest things I've ever seen." 

"Talk about a girl who was up for anything," Geoff agreed. "You two ever see each other anymore?"

"It's been years. She could probably find me, though. If she wanted.  We're still married." 

"Everything comes back to promises, somehow," Geoff pronounced, like it was the most profound statement in the universe, and he  _was_ drunk enough to think so. He pulled a knife,  _the_ knife, out of his pocket, and studied it as if it were an oracle about to speak some word of wisdom.

"I went back and got this, you know, after Bill threw it in my face. Couldn't just leave it there somehow; guess I'm a sentimental fucker after all."

Duke grinned crookedly, "Aren't we all? Maybe you're not out of second chances yet." 

"Maybe."

Duke crossed the room and clapped Geoff on the shoulder. "Why don't you sleep on it, man? And if I can help you guys out with anything, you know I will. No questions asked." 

"Yeah, all right. To second chances." They raised their glasses and knocked them together a little unsteadily.  

"You wanna crash here tonight? Couch is always open;  _mi casa es su casa_ and all that."

" _Su casa_ is a fucking boat, Duke, pretty sure I'll be hugging the rail if I try to spend the night.  Nah, I'm okay to walk to Bill and Meg's. Better get going, honestly, I feel like shit already." 

"Don't forget to make yourself some of that hangover cure in the morning."  

Duke listened to him stumble on the dock and smiled a little.  Same old Geoff, never could keep his sea legs worth a damn.  He'd just needed someone to rant to, Duke was pretty sure.  He and Bill were going to be okay. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
